


Jonah Magnus, the Sixteenth Entity

by timeless_alice



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Body Horror, Discussed Unreality, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Implied abuse, Manipulation, Spoilers for The Magnus Archives Season 4, this is not a ship fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeless_alice/pseuds/timeless_alice
Summary: Jonah had his Archive, but he stood at his own intersection of all the fear entities.He was not his tool, but he was the boot and the eye and the hand as witnessed by the ant.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Jonah Magnus, the Sixteenth Entity

Jon was _The Archive_. A living monument to the terror that had once pulsed in his throat and their traces that scarred his skin. And Jonah was his _Archivist_ , pointing him in the right direction to be marked and filled with all things that writhed and hunted and burned and _Knew_ , until he had cultivated his masterpiece. His lynchpin, one that found himself standing at the intersection where all entities met. Helpless by then to stop what was to come, any realization coming too little too late, though it was laughable to say _An Archive_ ever had much in the way of autonomy to begin with. 

And as _The Archivist_ , Jonah himself stood at his own intersection among the entities while still being beholden to that Ceaseless Watcher. He knew this to be true, on some level, though he would never deign himself to admit he was on the same level as his _tool._ Which he wasn't, not in the way that mattered for his plans, as he did not fear most of them. Merely dabbled in the edges that bled together when the need arose.

**The Buried**

Those within his archives pushed against the confines of their prison, trapped and tethered by the roles they had unwittingly inhabited. Weighed down by the knowledges that they possessed and the things that he had kept from them until it was too late. Surrounded on all sides by those that wished to harm and to kill, with no way to gasp for air as the walls closed in around them and they were picked off one by one.

And then there was Jon. Locked into his position with strain enough to crack fragile bones. Always needing to know, never knowing enough. Claustrophobic and drowning with Jonah just out of reach.

**The Vast**

It was a little strange, those spaces where opposites managed to bleed into each other all the same. But he had thrown Jon into the proverbial deep end in the quest to create his Archive. There was so much to know, a door flung open into a yawning void that would swallow the unwise up.

So much too know that it could drown under its crushing, inescapable weight.

**The Corruption**

The longer Jon stayed archivist, the further Jonah let him fall into the disease that would pound behind his eyes and roil in his gut. Beholden to a hunger that things purely human would never understand, and a thing that would loosen him to his mooring and place him on unsteady ground. A monster made but never aware until the teeth and claws had long since settled into the flesh. And Jon had had no one else to turn to about his powers, a twisted kind of kindred spirit who would sooner chew him up and spit him out than help him in any meaningful sense of the word.

**The Dark**

Jon was reliant on him for information, things that he would tease out as he pleased. Things omitted and denied. If he knew too much, all his careful plans would fall to ashes and dust. Kept ignorant until the exact moment the rug was to be ripped out from under him.

**The Desolation & The Web**

Jonah perhaps stood at the intersection of Web and Desolation that the Web would like to pretend did not exist. He wound Jon up and let him run into whatever mystery would lead to another mark. Another step towards that grand plan of his, every "choice" made an illusion that played into Jonah's hand. There was an air of cruelty to it, needless and destructive in the way the Desolation so prided themselves in just to ensure the desired result.

And there was that rush when someone stood in his way, and he could pluck at those raw nerves until everyone fell back into line. He could almost understand why the Desolation enjoyed what they did so much.

**The End & The Extinction**

His one true fear. A thing to be stopped at all costs.

**The Flesh**

Humans were nothing more to him that vessels to feed and serve those he belonged to. Offerings to beings that stood beyond all of them, to be devoured until nothing remained but empty husks.

**The Hunt**

Jonah always considered himself a meticulous, careful man. One not prone to animalistic instincts that drove those of the hunt to stalk and kill before finding a new thing to chase in their endless cycle. But he did have the thrill of a chase, curling under his skin as he stalked the halls of his Institute. Knowledge that would lead him to his goal to bring The Eye into power so that he may rule a ruined world.

One could argue that his relationship with Jon was one of predation. That of a wolf seeking out the weakest of the herd, playing his hand just so until it was alone and defenseless.

**The Lonely**

Jon was a loner, Jonah knew that. It was why he picked him, all told. Parents died when he was young and his grandmother died after a lifetime of not particularly caring about what he got up to anyway. He kept to himself, quiet and shy. Rare to ask those around him for help, if it ever happened at all. A little neurotic, a mess of undiagnosed problems that if plucked properly could drive him even further from everyone else.

A lack of connection, of his own doing exacerbated and aggravated Jonah's machinations. A wedge driven between him and those around him, anyone who could notice something was wrong and offer help. Throwing himself after the spotty leads Jonah handed him, running himself ragged with few to turn to as his grasp on himself fell away.

The weakest of the herd.

**The Spiral**

What was it to him to stop Jon's loosening grasp on reality? The growing uncertainty that pushed him away from an increasingly angered Tim, pushed him away from Martin who he was so sure wanted to kill him. And Sasha, well, wasn't quite herself. And Jonah only watched with a few half-hearted, insincere attempts to check in on his health, both physical and mental. 

A mind that found any way to bend scenarios so that he's at fault, or made up scenarios in the throes of paranoia. Easy to chase leads and jump to conclusions. Couldn't see the forest for the trees, too lost in his own imagination to see the trap and with no one to pull him back from the edge of the abyss.

**The Slaughter**

Jonah had blood on his hands. He would rather he wouldn't but on occasion sacrifices had to be made in the name of progression. Gertrude understood the concept, so he supposed he understood her more than he'd like to admit.

**The Stranger**

Elias Bouchard, a man not yet thirty years old, with his easy smile and charm. His many acquaintances but no close friends, no close family. Led to the tunnels and to the heart of the panopticon, entirely too trusting of his boss. And Jonah remembered the dawning terror when he was backed into a corner, seeing his body. The original Jonah Magnus, eyeless and eternal on his throne of stone.

And how he had screamed and fought, though no one could find him there, as eyes were plucked from their sockets. The ragged edges of his breath when Jonah made the transfer still echoed in his ears. It had been a shuddering thing when he took over this new body, consciousness spreading through new, young limbs as the original Elias pounded against his skull. Eventually he would quiet, fade into nothing. They always did.

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes u get a dumb idea in ur head and you have to write it. you just have to. i have so many thoughts about jonalias its not even funny (also a lot of these are reaches but its fine im just here for a good time)
> 
> anyway i might write a bigger fic about jonah taking elias' body bc i have thoughts.
> 
> find my on tumblr at timelessmulder ;)


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